Stress Less
by YunaDax
Summary: Frank and Rachel have to cope with Stress Less day in the office


From: "Julia Webster"  Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 09:20:07 +1100 

Title: Stress Less Author: Julia Disclaimer: ::gets Rachel, Frank, Helen and other toys back out of the toybox:: lets play again! Oh.. you want them back? you SURE??? can't I keep them for a little while longer? PLEEAAASSSSEEE Aww thanks :) Any relationship to other peoples work or idea is purely co-incidental (feels like I'm writting another friggin uni essay!) Author's Note: I worked on Stress Less Day a few weeks ago with my uni for Mental Health Week, and it got me thinking, with all this crime fighting, prank pulling stuff going on around the office, our 2 fave D's are gonna be slightly frazzeled! Enjoy. Warning.... another peice of Julia fluff follows, I seem to be on roll with silly fluff lately :) 

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Rachel Goldstein threw down her pen with disgust, the paper in front of her mocking her with its whiteness. White, unmarked, untouched. She just couldn't keep her mind on the job today, she didn't know why. Things were just ganging up on her, forcing her mind to wander to trivial matters instead of doing the allready overdue reports for Helen. She gave a sigh of frustration and leaned back in her chair, too tired to fight with the paper anymore. Helen Blakemore chose that moment to flounce into the office holding a few brightly coloured peices of paper. "Cheer up Rach, tomorrow's Stress Less Day!" Helen announced, pinning the bright yellow poster up on the wall oppisite Rachel's desk. She also pinned several other brightly coloured Mental Health posters around the office. "Helen, what ARE you doing? We dont need those in here, we're sposed to be WORKING remember, not Stress Lessing" Rachel sneered, eyeing off the poster. "On the contrary my dear Rachel, you two have been under alot of pressure lately and I dont want my two FAVOURITE detectives wearing themselves out" Helen chanted. "But..." Rachel stuttered, only to be cut off by Helen. " It STAYS, Rachel. End of Story." "Alright alright" Rachel sighed, she couldn't be bothered fighting with Helen right now. She gotup to leave, intent on doing the paperwork tomorrow when Helen stepped into her path. " And where are you going?" She asked innocently " Home. We're supposed to Stress Less remember?" Rachel pointed to the sign. "Yeah, but thats tomorrow! That report is so late its gonna be coming in next Christmas at the rate you're going. I want it finished TOMORROW" Helen dictated. As much as she knew the kinda pressure Rachel worked under, Jeff was getting stroppy about the report, and she didn't want to get her bum kicked, not again. Rachel sighed, leaning over her desk and grabbing the file that contained the report. "Fine, I'll do it tonight" she said reluctantly, as she stepped around Helen and was off before she could be stopped. 

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Rachel flounced into the office the next day, smiling brightly as she passed through the glass doors. "Morning Helen!" she announced happily, knowing that Helen was probably nose deep in paperwork. Rachel trotted up the stairs and into her office, plonking her bag and file on her chair before walking over to Frank and giving him a big HUG!!! After she released him, Frank just looked at her with a weird expression on his face, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before stuttering "What the hell was that all about!?!" Rachel looked quite taken back by the sharpish remark. She looked at him innocently, and pointed to the sign, one of the little pictures was entitled 'be at peace'. "Peace Frank, if only for one day" Frank looked at her as if to say 'you've got to be kidding' Rachel flopped down at her desk and just smiled at him, today was going to be FUN! She looked at the sign again, 9 more things to do. About an hour later Helen found a heap of papers on her desk, some completed, some still blank. A yellow post-it note was attached to the front. 'Delegate some of your work'. *Rachel* Helen fumed, she knew Rachel was going to make this day hell for all of them. Thinking back, Helen tried to remember how many signs she had put up, about 9 in total, although she couldn't be sure where. *hell* she thought * I need a break* and off she headed to the meal room. Rachel and Frank breezed into the meal room, sure that they would find their next targets there. Surely enough Helen and Tommy were sitting at a table talking. Frank dropped a post-it note on the table in front of them. 'Hug your dog, Kiss your cat' Rachel wrapped her arms around Tommy, hugging him tightly as Frank dropped kisses on Helen's nose. They both grinned as they took off to catch their next victims. Tommy looked at Helen strangely. "What was all that about?" he asked, still slightly bemused that he had been on the receiving end of a 'Rachel' hug. Helen just looked at him and pointed to the bright yellow sign. 3 down, 7 to go. Funnily enough, the next picture on the poster was entitled 'do lunch'. Going over to the D's office, surely enough a sign was posted on their door. 'Doing Lunch, shan't be long :) ' Helen fumed and stalked off to her own office, wondering how the hell she was going to explain this to Jeff. Glancing at the yellow poster hanging in her own office, she wondered what was on their agenda next. 

Surely enough the next goal was achieved shortly after the return of the two pranking detectives. The sound of laughter echoes throughout the station. Peeking through the door, Helen realised the source of the laughter. Rachel and Frank were splitting themselves laughing, they had hired a classic comedy video from the video store and were in hysterics in the office, the TV blaring in front of them. Helen glanced at the ill-fated sign on the office wall, looking to see the next objective. 'Just have a good laugh' Helen debated going in and blasting them for wating Police time when she realised that the whole point of the day was to Stress Less. Looking at the sign again the next objective read 'Look on the funny side'. Helen looked at the D's, who at this time was just about rolling around on the floor with laughter, and burst out laughing herself before turning and going back to her own office. Rachel paused in her hysterics just long enough to see Helen giggling and retreating back into her own office. Thinking *thats another one down!* she turned her attention back to the video, which wasn't REALLY that funny, but she and Frank had been trying all sorts of things to make each other laugh for the past hour, and now both were in hysterics. Jeff Hawker sighed and glanced at his watch. His entire senior staff seemed to be acting a little strangly, but from his office he failed to see what was ACTUALLY wrong. He glanced at the bright yellow poster Helen had hung on his wall. Reading one of the objectives he saw one that read 'Relax into reading'. *Such a good idea* he thought, putting down the file he was studying and picking up his novel, determined to relax, if only for a short while. Taylor Johnson was bored, there was nothing going on at the front desk and noone had even complained about a speeding boat. Sighing she looked across to the bright yellow sign that was pinned to the notice board. 'Make your own decisions and acheive some new goals for yourself' 

*There's an idea* she thought, scampering off to find Gavin, there was ONE goal that she wanted to acheive herself. Grinning she ran up to him and planted a huge kiss on his cheek. "My place after work" she whispered into his ear before running off again. Mission Accomplished! Dave McCal dragged himself back into the Diver's Area, another body had been recovered, another report to fill in, another day at the office. Flopping down ina chair he noticed Woodsie looking down, depressed by their latest discovery. He looked at the bright yellow sign above her head. "Good job Woodsie, you've done well" he said, following the directive on the sign 'Accept a compliment and give one back' "Thanks boss, you did well too" she smiled at him. Another happy face in the station. That left only ONE objective to be accomplished. Rachel and Frank looked around themselves, seeing objectives being accomplished everywhere. Tayler had done one, Helen, Jeff and even Dave and Woodsie had all made efforts to 'Stress Less'. Looking up at the sign once more, Rachel noticed only one objective had yet to be accomplished. She looked at Frank, who in turn was looking at Woodsie and Dave, a grin forming on her face. Grabbing his shoulder she span him around and kissed him full on the lips. She registered the shock on Frank's face, and was gratefuly releived when he joined in the fun, fully returning the kiss. Hoots and whistles from the enthusiastic office bystanders echoed around them. The final objective had been completed. 'Be Daring - do something you have always wanted to do, but were afraid to take that step' Happy Stress Less Day! 

Finis. 


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